1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a printing apparatus and an image output control apparatus to realize what is called WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) in which, for instance, when a color image (multivalue image) pattern is converted into a binary image pattern to express the color image pattern in a monochromatic color or a monochromatic color of CMYK or the like or in a few colors in a printing apparatus, particularly, a print result from a printer with regard to a pattern output and a display output by a display are made coincide.
2. Related Background Art
On a system constructed of a display apparatus (display) and a printing apparatus (printer) which are connected to a conventional host system, in case of realizing a coincidence between a display output on the display regarding a pattern drawing output and a print result by the printer, the following methods are needed.
(1) A method whereby in a display control program (display driver) and a printer control program (printer driver), a dithering pattern installed on each apparatus is prepared in each driver, image data to be formed is falsely developed into a pattern image independently in each apparatus by a pattern drawing application including a figure and characters on the host system, and the developed image is transmitted as a bit map image to both of the printer and the display and is outputted as a bit map image.
(2) A method whereby in the display, by a pattern drawing application including a figure and characters on a host system, image data to be formed is developed into a pattern image composed of planes, lines, color, and gradations to form a figure and characters which are closest to the image data which can be outputted by the display through the display driver and the developed pattern image is displayed and outputted, while in the printer, the image data to be formed is developed into a pattern image composed of planes, lines, color, and gradations forming a figure and characters which are closest to the image data which can be outputted by the printer through the printer driver and the developed pattern image is printed and outputted.
The above conventional methods, however, have the following problems in case of realizing a coincidence between the display output by the display regarding the pattern drawing output and the print result by the printer.
(1) Dithering pattern (dither matrix) information installed in the display and printer is provided in the display driver and printer driver on the host system and a pattern image developing process is executed with respect to each apparatus, so that a memory amount which is consumed in a data area of each driver is large. In case of controlling a plurality of apparatuses by one driver, on the other hand, a plurality of dithering pattern (dither matrix) information are provided for each apparatus and the operation and the kind of apparatus are discriminated and the pattern image developing process is performed, so that the processes become complicated and a processing speed performance also deteriorates.
(2) By the pattern drawing application including a figure and characters on the host system, in the display driver and the printer driver, the image data to be formed is developed into the pattern image composed of planes, lines, color, and gradations forming a figure and characters which are closest to the image data in each apparatus or the image data is falsely developed into the pattern image, and the developed pattern image is outputted to the display or printer. Therefore, with regard to the pattern output, the true WYSIWYG in which the display output result and the print result are made coincide cannot be realized.
The invention is made in consideration of the above conventional apparatuses and it is an object of the invention to provide a system in which the same dithering pattern as a dithering pattern installed in a printer or a printer driver is also used on a display and image pattern forming and drawing processes are executed, thereby making a display output from the display and a print result from the printer coincident, and to solve the above problems by realizing WYSIWYG.
Another object of the invention is to provide an efficient apparatus with respect to an image output.
To accomplish the above objects, the present invention comprises the following construction and operation.
That is, according to the first embodiment of the invention, there is provided a printing apparatus comprising: communicating means for performing a two-way communication with a host system; and dither processing means for dithering input image data and forming binary image data on the basis of information regarding an image output inputted from the host system through the communicating means.
In addition to the first embodiment, there is also provided a printing apparatus wherein the information regarding the image output is at least one of a drawing output of figure/characters and a color and gradation expression output.
In addition to the first embodiment, there is also provided a printing apparatus further comprising: means for receiving obtaining instruction information to obtain the dithering pattern information in the dither processing means from the host system through the communicating means; and means for transmitting the dithering pattern information to the host system through the communicating means in response to the obtaining instruction.
There is also provided a printing apparatus wherein the transmitting means adds correction information to the dithering pattern information and transmits the resultant information.
According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provided an image output control apparatus comprising: means for transmitting an instruction notification to obtain dithering pattern information to a printing apparatus through communicating means; means for receiving the dithering pattern information transmitted through the communicating means in response to the instruction notification from the printing apparatus; and means for developing image data by using the received dithering pattern information from the printing apparatus and supplying the developed image data to a display apparatus.
There is further provided an image output control apparatus comprising: means for analyzing setting information regarding an image output to a printing apparatus and image data; drawing control means for determining an output format from dithering pattern information obtained from the printing apparatus through communicating means and the setting information composed of a pattern on the basis of the setting information and an analysis result regarding image data and for forming a binary image pattern; means for converting and forming a control instruction to allow the printing apparatus to draw and output the determined output form and the formed binary image pattern; and means for transmitting the control instruction to the printing apparatus through the communicating means.
There is also provided an image output control apparatus further comprising means for forming dithering pattern data which can be recognized on an operating system for making the host system operative on the basis of dithering pattern information obtained from a printing apparatus.
There is also provided an image output control apparatus comprising: drawing control means for forming a binary image pattern by using dithering pattern information obtained through communicating means; and means for converting the formed binary image pattern into a luminance signal of a display apparatus, transmitting the luminance signal to the display apparatus, and allowing the display apparatus to display and output the same image pattern as an image pattern installed in a printing apparatus.
There is also provided an image output control apparatus comprising: communicating means for performing a two-way communication with a printing apparatus; and means for performing a dithering process on the basis of dithering pattern information inputted from the printing apparatus through the communicating means.
According to the invention, for example, a two-way communication is performed between the printer and the printer driver on the host system, the printer driver obtains (up-loads) the dithering pattern (dither matrix) information installed in the printer, the pattern information is made recognized on the host system, and the image pattern formed by the dithering pattern is reproduced on the display driver on the basis of input data from the outside and is displayed and outputted to the display. On the other hand, by printing the image pattern formed by the same dithering pattern, the printer operates so as to make the display output and the print result coincide.
According to further another embodiment of the invention, there is provided an image output control apparatus in which a display driver or an operating system to display executes a developing process by using a dithering pattern which is used by a printer or a printer driver, thereby enabling a display image equivalent to a print image to be obtained.
Further another object of the invention is to provide a print control method in the foregoing printing apparatuses, a control method in the foregoing image output control apparatuses, and a storage medium in which programs for those control methods have been stored.